A high-intensity earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter Scale jolted Tajikistan in central Asia late on Friday night, leading to tremors in several northern states of India. According to the National Centre for Seismology, the epicentre of the quake was Tajikistan. The agency had earlier said the quake’s epicentre was Amritsar in Punjab but later released a revised statement.

According to the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), the quake struck the Tajikistan-Xinjiang border region at a depth of 86 km at 10.31pm, reported news agency Reuters.

Tremors shook Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) and were felt as far as Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, continuing for several seconds. There have been no reports of destruction or casualties so far.

Tremors were also reported from Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In Srinagar, video footage showed panicked people running out of their houses as the ground shook.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter expressed concern and said he was praying for everyone’s safety.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said no reports of any damage have been reported in Amritsar or other parts of Punjab so far. “Top officials of Punjab Police and local administration are keeping a close watch on the situation. Praying for everyone’s safety,” he tweeted.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 also jolted Pakistan — tremors were felt in capital Islamabad and major cities of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.

As soon as tremors were felt, users took to Twitter to express their thoughts. Earthquake soon became the topmost trend on the microblogging site. Clips showed furniture and ceiling fans shaking, windows and utensils rattling, and people rushing out of their houses toward safety.’

“At around 10:30 pm, I felt strong tremors. When I saw some people coming out of their houses in my neighbourhood, I realised it was an earthquake,” said a shopkeeper in Rajinder Nagar area of Delhi.

(with inputs from agencies)